‘Big Love:’ Moving toward coming out as polygamists

Who would have thought that Alby — he of snakes in a bed, of attempting to blow up his dear sweet parents, etc. — would become such a tragic, heartbreaking figure? His skin waxy, clearly shaken to his core, he was completely unconvincing in his testimony that he knew nothing — nothing! — about the apartment where Dale committed suicide, though it was rented with U.E.B. money. That’s going to cause more problems down the line. Then, locked in his office, cranking up “These Boots are Made for Walking,” swooning over that cell phone image of him and Dale sharing a moment of post-coital bliss, largely ignoring the sound of No. 1 wife Laura pounding on the door — it was a profound portrait of grief. (Anybody want to guess what’ll happen when he figures out what, precisely, Laura was seeking forgiveness for?) He did permit Nicki to come in, and she tried to give him an out. She brought him store-brought jeans and tried to get him to leave the compound with her, to forge some semblance of a normal life. “I think it’s too late for me,” he said. As long as he’s haunted by the poisonous spectre of their father, there’s no chance he’ll ever break free.

Nicki, motivated by having Cara Lynn back in her life and by a desire to be a good role model for her, has stepped up her own separation from compound living, adopting a sexy new look (she said had the right to dress like her sister-wives, though, truly, that look was much more Margene than it was Barb) and even opening up to Bill about her problems conceiving. She got quite a shock, though, when Barb told her that Joey had killed Roman. (Barb thought that Bill had already told Nicki, but her confession about her physical problems made him clam up to comfort her over that.) Nicki charged back out to Juniper Creek to confront Joey, who wasn’t there. (Where do you suppose he went after the stand-off in Mexico? Did Bill just leave him there? Is he holed up somewhere with Lois and Frank?) Nicki found Wanda alone in the house, knitting obsessively and not responding to Nicki at all. J.J. — who appears to be everywhere at once — came in and told Nicki that Wanda’s family would care for her; Nicki wasn’t having any of that, and whisked Wanda and her child back to the Henrickson compound.

We got another creepy, creepy glimpse of Wanda’s family at a creepy, creepy family dinner (which Wanda did not seem to attend). The patriarch winked at Adaleen and called her “baby doll;” the matriarch doesn’t seem at all thrilled with Adaleen and her pregnancy. Adaleen herself seemed discombobulated by the bunch; she had heard that Cara Lynn’s ultimately aborted sealing to Toby was meant as a punishment for J.J., a situation so dark that Adaleen wasn’t informed about it. So she went to Roman’s office to try to figure out what was going on; J.J. tracked her down and knocked her unconscious just after she seemed to have learned what had earned Roman’s wrath.

Life away from the compound was awfully fraught, as well. Sarah announced to her family that she and Scott are moving to Portland, and they’re doing it before Bill makes his big announcement to the world that he is a polygamist. Everyone freaked out over Sarah’s news, concerned that she’s moving so far away; Bill, though, saw it as a betrayal, though, by the end of the episode, he had come around and even went over to help her pack and gave her $5,000 for her new life. In reponse to that, Sarah showed up for the TV interview with the family, which was arranged to try to counteract the damage from Barb’s chat with the Eagle Forum. She talked about drug addiction among Utah women — an over-reliance on anti-anxiety medications that, she said, was a response to the many demands placed upon them. Barb was partly talking through a fight she’s had with Bill — he fired her from the casino over the Marilyn mess and was generally a real jerk about the whole thing — but she struck a nerve with the ladies in her audience. Pam, her neighbor, even yanked the “Build with Bill” sign out of her lawn in response to it; Pam, you may recall, had admitted to Margene that she was on anti-anxiety medication to cope with depression over her inability to conceive.

Bill had a big come-to-Jesus meeting with Marilyn and Ron Reed, telling them that he knows they’re in cahoots; while they were meeting, Tommy was copying files from Marilyn’s foolishly unattended laptop, which proved both that scam and the fact that Marilyn is gunning for Bill. I’m not a big fan of this storyline, but I’m loving Sissy Spacek in the role. What do you think about it?

Marilyn also spotted Bill and Margene sharing a kiss, which led her to believe that Bill was cheating on Barb. That faux revelation seemed to give her ammunition; I suspect it might step up Bill’s plans to come forward and admit that he has three wives, a plan, by the way, which none of those wives is happy about. Margene’s scheme to get around it — marrying Goran so that he and Ana and Bill’s baby could stay in the country — was nearly aborted when Margene heard about the possible fines and other punishments that could go with it, but Bill decided it’s better to let that stand for now. Though he also got jealous when he actually laid eyes on the very handsome Goran, prompting a “quien es mas macho” round of tetherball. Bill smashed the ball into Goran’s handsome nose, so I guess he won.

There’s just one more episode left this season, fellow fans. What do you think is going to happen? I’m kinda hoping for a cliffhanger — if there is one, what would you like it to be?